Netherlands is a top EU synthetic drug producer and trading hub

The Netherlands is one of the main drug-producing countries in Europe, according to a report from the European Drugs Agency EUDA for the year 2023.

In that year, some 36 MDMA labs were dismantled in Europe, 32 of which were located in the Netherlands, the EUDA figures show. The other four were discovered in Belgium.

The Netherlands also heads the list for the production of other drugs, including amphetamines. Of the 93 amphetamine producing labs, 38 were in the Netherlands, as were 10 of 14 heroin cutting and packaging locations.

Europe remains an important production region for illegal drugs, the agency said,  with great risks to public health, including explosions in labs in built-up areas, fires and exposure to chemical substances.

Dumping sites also pose a grave danger to health and the environment. Some 191 such sites were found in the Netherlands, out of a European Union total of 236.

The EUDA said it is worried about the increase in the use of designer drugs, such as 4-MMC and 3-CMC. Seizures of these drugs increased from 4.5 tonnes to 37 tonnes in the space of just two years, the agency said. A large part of the drugs was being traded via the Netherlands.

Eight designer drug labs were dismantled by police in this country in 2023. In Poland, which heads this list, 40 designer drug labs were dismantled.

The agency also issued a warning about nitazenes, extremely powerful painkillers, which have made victims in Estonia and Lithuania. In the Netherlands, no one overdosed on nitazenes in 2023.

Two people were hospitalised this year in connection with their use, and a man recently died after taking fake oxycodone pills laced with nitazene.